Obituary: Dan Lurie / Star and promoter of bodybuilding

April 1, 1923 - Nov. 6, 2013

November 10, 2013 11:44 PM

By Bruce Weber / The New York Times

Dan Lurie, whose chiseled physique and feats of strength earned him the title of America's most muscular man and made him a cover model for fitness magazines and a walking promoter for both the sport and the business of bodybuilding -- though they do not explain how he lost an arm-wrestling match to President Ronald Reagan -- died Wednesday in Roslyn, N.Y. He was 90.

The death was confirmed by his grandson, Cary Epstein.

Not as recognizable a name as Charles Atlas, Joe Weider, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Lou Ferrigno, Mr. Lurie nonetheless was a celebrity among bodybuilders.

For one thing, he was not just strong but freakishly strong. According to his website, Mr. Lurie once did 1,665 push-ups in 90 minutes, and in a photo he can be seen at age 17 holding a 150-pound barbell above his head with one arm.

For another thing, he had a storybook tale to tell: Doctors determined he was born with a heart defect, and they told his parents he was not likely to live beyond his fifth birthday.

Yet by the time he was 19 he had finished second overall in the 1942 Amateur Athletic Union Mr. America contest, a competition in which he was judged to have the best arms, the best legs and the second-best back and was voted most muscular for the first of three times. When, in February 1943, he was rejected by the Army because of a heart murmur, the irony was reported in Time magazine and The New York Times.

He began opening gymnasiums in the 1940s, and he eventually owned eight in New York City and a ninth in Miami Beach. He was the owner of the Dan Lurie Barbell Co., a manufacturer of exercise equipment that began as a partnership with Weider after Mr. Lurie, still a teenager, first appeared on the cover of Your Physique, a magazine published by Weider, in 1942.

Through much of the 1950s, Mr. Lurie appeared weekly on television on "Big Top," a circus show for families.

Along with Johnny Carson's future sidekick, Ed McMahon, who played a clown, Mr. Lurie was featured as a strongman who performed weightlifting feats, often to illustrate the healthful attributes of dairy products made by Sealtest, the show's sponsor. Hence his lingering nickname: Sealtest Dan the Muscle Man.

Daniel Lurie was born on April 1, 1923, in Brooklyn and grew up in the borough's Canarsie section. He graduated from Tilden High School, where, though his academic record was spotty, he became the state high school checkers champion, according to his autobiography, written with David Robson.

Mr. Lurie lived in North Woodmere, N.Y. In addition to his grandson, Mr. Epstein, he is survived by his wife, the former Thelma Rothman, whom he married in 1947; a son, Mark; four daughters, Andrea Herman, Jill Kucker, Sandy Carl and Rochelle Lurie; 14 additional grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

In the 1960s, Mr. Lurie started a magazine to promote bodybuilding, and some years later he wrote to Reagan, informing him that as the publisher of Muscle Training Illustrated he was naming him the fittest president in history. Reagan invited Mr. Lurie, then 60, to the White House, where in February 1984 they arm-wrestled in the Oval Office.

The president, who had just turned 73, won, raising some eyebrows about the legitimacy of the contest.

A White House spokesman told The Times that it was a true test of the president's strength, though he also admitted that a videotape of the event would not be released to the news media.

Mr. Lurie was silent on the matter, but years later, on his website, he confessed that he had thrown the match. "I wasn't going to beat the president," he wrote.

Most Read

Most Emailed

Most Commented

Join the conversation:

To report inappropriate comments, abuse and/or repeat offenders, please send an email to
socialmedia@post-gazette.com and include a link to the article and a copy of the comment. Your report will be reviewed in a timely manner.
Thank you.